“My Native Land”

“My Native Land”
By Emil Kubek

The Rusyn land, my native land,
From the depths of my heart I salute you!
These thoughts of mine, from foreign climes,
Wander back to the snow-capped Carpathians, —
There is where my native hut stands!
Where my youth passed by,
Mother sang lullabies.
My native land,
I salute you!

My Uhro-Rusyn native land!
With the love of my heart I salute you!
Down the rocky mountain crags,
Rush the bubbling streams of the Tysa,
The Poprad, Ung, and Torysa,
Where the multi-colored Danube flows
Teal Latorica, rapid Laborec.
My native land,
I salute you!

My native Subcarpathian land,
I am parting with you now forever!
When I left you that spring with tears in my eyes,
The wind of the plains then whispered goodbye,
Its sound saw me off to my immigrant life.
With sadness now I remember you well,
And wish your children all the best,
My native land,
Farewell!

Kubek’s “My Native Land” appeared in the American Rusyn Messengerin 1916 along with a call for “Uhro-Rusyn,” “Russian,” or “Slavic” composers to set Kubek’s poem to music. The paper would award $20 for first place, $10 for second place, and $5 for third place. The three finalists —Mikhail Andrejkovich, Michal Bilansky, and Andrei and Ioann Klein — were announced on January 4, 1917, and the ARVpublished their adaptions along with an analysis of their works.

Notes

Rush the bubbling streams of the Tysa,… The Poprad, Laborec, Ung (now Už), Latorica, and Tysa are all rivers that have their headwaters in the Carpathian Mountains.